The Tourist (Sold #1)

3. Chloe

CHAPTER 3

Chloe

T he bag is ripped off my head, and relieved to be free of the suffocating shroud, I take in several deep gulps of air before looking around my location. Beside me, Serena sits in a heap on the cold, hard floor, her face streaked with tear-stained makeup. I glance around, disoriented.

We’re in a small room, industrial in design, possibly inside an old factory. The peeling paintwork on the walls is stained, and the light is dim, casting eerie shadows that make everything look even more foreboding.

“What’s happening?” I ask, my voice trembling. I try to suppress the torrent of tears threatening to engulf me. The fear is suffocating, and I can barely hold myself together.

Serena doesn’t respond. She stares blankly as a man enters the room. He’s an older gentleman, dressed in an expensive looking suit, and the hostility in his eyes sends shivers down my spine. He exudes a sense of power and cruelty, the kind that promises no mercy.

“Bring the little whore here,” the man commands, his voice dripping with menace. Each word feels like a knife slicing through the air.

Serena turns her head to me as two men close in on us. “Whatever happens, Chloe, stay strong. Shut your eyes if you need to.”

“Serena,” I whisper, my confusion and fear blending into a single, paralyzing emotion. “What is happening?”

“It will be all right. I promise. Diego will come,” she says, a lone tear tumbling down her cheek. The sight of it sends a wave of terror through me. “I love you, Chloe. You’re my best friend. Always.”

“What’s happening?” I ask again, my voice breaking as another shiver of fear travels over my body. Serena has never talked to me like this before, like she’s about to die.

The two men grab Serena, one by her hair and the other by her arms. They drag her to her feet. She tries to fight them, but it’s useless. They’re so much stronger than her. She goes still and allows them to take her to the man in charge.

“Hello, Serena. Seeing you again is such a pleasure,” the man addresses her with a sneer.

“Mr. Armstrong,” she replies, lacing his name with venom.

I’m stunned that she knows him, but then realization dawns. This is about her brother and her family. The cartel world she lives in has imploded, dragging me into its dark abyss.

“You know what happens now. I win against your brother,” he says, smiling cruelly. Serena holds her head high and doesn’t flinch. I’ve never witnessed bravery like hers before. I guess it’s a testament to the harsh world she’s been raised in.

“Do whatever you want with me. I won’t break. That is the Rodriguez way, and it’s something you will never understand as an inferior Armstrong,” she spits back at him.

The man laughs and shakes his head. “Do stop with the bravado, little girl. We both know I’m going to destroy you and your family.”

“Do your worst,” Serena replies, her chin tilted upward in defiance.

“Don’t worry. I will,” the man called Armstrong sneers, motioning for the men around him to surround Serena. “Strip her.”

The men use a knife to slice off Serena’s clothes.

“I love a virgin. Such tight little cunts,” Armstrong says with a lascivious smile.

My stomach lurches, the previously consumed alcohol threatening to make a reappearance.

“Stop. Please,” I whimper, but my voice is too weak, too quiet, to be heard.

Once the men have stripped Serena naked, Armstrong turns her, so she’s facing away from him, and presses her body against the wall in front of them. Next, I see him fumbling with his pants. I know what’s coming. He’s going to rape her. Tears stream down my cheeks as I watch on, helpless. Serena remains stalwart, even as the man pushes into her and violates her from behind. She doesn’t scream or make a noise, but I cry out for her, my screams filling the dingy room and reverberating off the walls.

“Stop. Don’t,” I plead, but my words fall on deaf ears.

“Get her out of here,” Armstrong shouts over his shoulder, gesturing toward me.

I’m hauled off the floor and dragged across the room. Looking back, Serena’s head is turned to face me, but there’s nothing in her eyes. They are dead as the man continues to rut into her.

“Live,” she mouths as I’m pulled from the room, and I wonder if I’ll ever see her again. My best friend. The other half of me.

Survival instincts kick in, and I start to struggle and fight against the men holding me. A sharp whack across my face in response to my efforts brings the metallic taste of blood to my mouth.

“Behave, or you’ll regret it,” one of the men spits into my ear.

Bile rises in my throat again, but I swallow it back down. How can a fun night out turn into this nightmare?

I’m dragged into a tiled room with several showers. My clothes are ripped off me, and I try to hide my breasts and pussy with my hands, but it’s useless. I’m handed a bar of soap and thrown under a torrent of ice-cold water that takes my breath away.

“Wash now, or you’ll get the same as your friend.”

I quickly scrub my body, knowing they’re threatening to rape me if I don’t. After a minute or so, the men grab my arms, and I’m dragged out of the shower.

“This one’s going to fetch us a good amount. Got nice tits. What do you think, a double D?” one of the men asks.

“Definitely. A damn good handful,” the other man replies, cupping his hand around my left breast. I try to shake him off, but he tightens his grip, his fingers digging into my soft flesh.

“You think she’s a virgin?” the other man questions, eyeing between my thighs.

“Oh god, yes. Either that or Diego’s been fucking her. He’s the sort of asshole to do that to his sister’s best friend.”

“He’s not touched me. No one has,” I shout back, defending my best friend’s brother. I instantly regret it, realizing I’ve given them too much personal information about me.

One of the men kicks me in the stomach. “If that’s the case, one of our more depraved customers is going to want to own you. It’s always the sickest perverts who want virgins and are willing to pay the highest price for them.”

The men laugh together, and I’m dragged, naked and wet, out of the shower room and down a poorly lit hallway. I’m shivering, but I don’t know if it’s from the cold water or because they’ve just told me I’m going to be sold.

This is the dark side of the cartel and mafia world. It’s the side that Serena has always assured me her family isn’t involved in. She told me the Rodriguez family made most of their money from hotels and casinos. I suppose it’s possible they deal in drugs, but surely not people. Did Serena lie?

No, she wouldn’t lie to me. Diego will be here any minute. He’ll come for both of us. I just hope and pray there’s something left of my best friend to save.

My feet have to move quickly to keep up, and I’m almost running by the time the men come to an abrupt stop and I slam to a halt behind them. The men unlock a pair of double doors in front of us, and I’m thrown into a room that looks very different from the rest of the building. It’s more luxurious, with black velvet lining the walls, and there’s a spotlight illuminating an ‘X’ in the middle of the floor. I can see several surveillance cameras dotted around the room.

There are four other people in the room—three women and one man, and they’re also naked. Each one looks terrified as they try to cover their bodies.

A chain with a piece of wood attached is placed around my neck. I try to remove it, but another punch to my head tells me to stop. I know I need to pick my fights, so I obey. Looking down, I can see I’m now displaying a sign saying ‘The Tourist’. The irony isn’t lost on me. This isn’t the holiday I expected when I came to Las Vegas.

The other four people are wearing signs as well. There’s a muscular man with blonde hair and blue eyes. His sign tells me he is ‘The Nephew’. I recognize him from somewhere, maybe a cable television show.

One of the women has green eyes and naturally vibrant red hair, and her sign tells me she is ‘The Indebted’. She is supporting another woman who is muttering something that sounds like a repeated prayer in a foreign language. She is darker skinned than the rest of us, with jet-black hair and brown eyes, and her sign identifies her as ‘The Princess’.

The final woman is standing in a corner of the room, looking like she wants to disappear. She has dark blonde hair and green eyes. Her sign describes her as ‘The Nobody’. It’s the most insulting label of all. Surely, no human is so worthless that they have earned such a title.

An older woman appears from a door at the other end of the room. She’s dressed in a formal, maroon suit. Her gray hair is pulled back into a harsh bun, emphasizing her slight body type. She’s too thin and looks like she’s about to break.

“Are they all here?” she asks the men who brought me into the room. Her tone is harsh, and she looks down her nose at us.

“The sister is still entertaining the boss,” one of the men informs her with a smirk.

It seems, Serena is to be labeled ‘The Sister’. If Diego finds out, it will destroy him, but it does give me a glimmer of hope that they don’t intend to kill my best friend. Although I’m starting to think that death might be a better option than what is about to happen to us.

“I hope my brother leaves something for me to sell,” the woman chuckles.

I want to punch her hard in the head, and I take a step forward. “That’s my friend you’re talking about. How sick can you be?”

The woman looks at me with her eyebrow raised as one of the men punches me in the stomach.

“She can be first,” she announces as she turns on her high heels and leaves the room through the door she previously entered.

I’m grabbed under my arms and dragged to the cross marked on the floor in the center of the room. A blindfold is placed over my eyes, and not being able to see makes panic set in. I try to pull away and start to struggle.

“Keep still, and this will be over quickly,” one of the men growls.

I don’t want to stop fighting, but fatigue from the punches to my head and stomach, together with the sheer terror of the situation, overrules my panic, and I collapse into one of the men’s arms as my legs give way. He catches me and pushes my head and shoulders forward until I’m bent at the waist and both men are holding me in place. My naked breasts hang low, and a cold draft breezes over my exposed body, especially my pussy that’s now fully on display.

“We’ll start at one hundred thousand dollars for this virgin” I hear the woman’s voice. The cold, clinical tone of it makes my skin crawl.

They really are going to sell me.

“Two,” a male voice calls out over some kind of speaker system.

“Three,” says another.

The bidding goes up quickly.

“Eight.” A deep voice, commanding and confident, offers.

“Very good,” the woman responds.

“Anyone else?” She pauses, and the room remains silent.

Eight hundred thousand dollars is what I’m worth. What my life is worth. I don’t know whether to be flattered or insulted.

“Sold.” I hear a hammer bang.

“Have her bagged and ready to travel immediately,” the deep voice orders, his instructions clear and unwavering.

“Of course,” the woman replies as I’m pulled back up to standing.

I’ve just been sold to a stranger for eight hundred thousand dollars. My breaths start to come quickly and haphazardly. I’m hyperventilating, and my head starts to spin.

Everything comes to an abrupt stop when I feel a sharp prick in my arm. The world is already dark behind the blindfold, but it goes completely black as I collapse into unconsciousness.